Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – Tuesday’s election day in Virginia was a good one for Democrats who may have won enough seats to take over the majority in the House of Delegates, but Republicans are trying to figure out all the factors that played into their big losses.
“What’s remarkable, these are primarily white, upper-income, college-educated professionals who voted Republican on economic issues for over 50 years are now swinging Democrat,” former attorney for the Clinton White House and Democratic strategist Lanny Davis told Mornings on the Mall Friday.
Davis said this shows that cultural issues are dividing people from their economic interests.
Republicans have traditionally relied heavily on rural Virginians, but Davis said the problem there is that there are far fewer people in rural areas. He said if they want to win future elections, they need to find a way to crack the higher-population suburban, traditional Republican voter areas.
“That’s a serious problem, not because of issues, but because of Donald Trump’s Twitter personal remarks that scare people, and that professionals who are Republican voters, economic conservatives are voting Democratic,” Davis said.
On the other hand, Davis said despite their wins Tuesday, Democrats have lots of work to do to appeal to rural and low income voters that should be part of their base.
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